The Donne – Women in Music Foundation has published the results of a new study analyzing the 2020-2021 season programs of 100 orchestras around the world, revealing the lack of representation of works by non-white, non-male composers. The study, Equality and diversity in concert halls, builds on previous research from the 2018 and 2019 seasons internationally, this year capturing more orchestras in 27 countries, including the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.

The study analyzed the programs of some of the most influential and popular orchestras in the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic, the London Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, among many others (including the four from Australia).

The report, which can be found on Donne – Women and Music Website – breaks down the results of the study into clear statistics. Of the 14,747 individual compositions performed in the 100 orchestras, only 747 (5%) were composed by composers who identify as women. In addition, he states the “alarming” fact that, of these pieces, only 1.11% were composed by black or Asian women, and 2.43% by black or Asian men. Of the 4,857 scheduled performances, 88.55% contained programs composed solely of compositions by composers who identified themselves as male.

This marks a small improvement over the 2018-2019 study of 15 international orchestras (including SSO), which saw 94.7% of concerts with all-male programs, and only 82 out of 3,524 performed works by composers.

Since 2018, Donne has been trying to prove that it is not for lack of material. The big list , found on their website, is an ever-growing catalog of over 4,000 female composers, dating back to before the 16th century, with external links to works and more information. The foundation also produces digital video content aimed at exposing the public to the works of these women.

As the founder and curator of Donne, soprano Gabriella Da Laccio, told Spotlight in 2018, “I keep coming across surprises, and I have the feeling that this will continue for a long time to come, as there are still so many composers to discover. If we take into consideration that it was so incredibly difficult for women to receive any recognition in the past centuries, the achievements of all of these composers become even more impressive. They are all, without exception, extraordinary women ”.

This new report also clarifies why these statistics are of concern. After the decimation of the music industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to pay attention to these inequalities as international organizations strive to regain their balance.

“For equality and diversity to become a reality in our concert halls, it is important that we go beyond the simple principle of political correctness and aim for full and genuine inclusion to permeate layers – this means artists that we see on stage, the repertoire presented in concerts and in our educational programs, the staff leading the organizations and the audiences we are trying to reach, ”Di Laccio said in the report.

Graph showing representation statistics for the 2020-2021 season. Taken from Equality and diversity in concert halls , published by Donne – Women in Music.

The report also includes testimonials from composers and performers, advocating for parity in programming.

“If we keep programming the same pieces for the rest of eternity, we reserve the concert hall for a museum, but even museums look at their past through the eyes of the present and reframe the prejudices that bought their exhibits. How wonderful that these concert halls can also resonate with new music, and how a gaping hole is left by music that is not heard, played, not ordered, ”said the songwriter and writer based at Manchester Anna Appleby.

With respect to our national orchestras, the report explains how the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland symphony orchestras have fared under this scrutiny. Most damning were the SSO figures for the 2020-2021 season, with no scheduled performance of works by female composers of any cultural background or non-white male composers. These are 277 compositions spread over 103 scheduled performances. This isn’t the first time SSO has been criticized for its programming, with an Australian composer Ian Whitney’s analysis in the amount of Australian content in 2020 showing the decline in the diversity of performance of SSO, while that of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra continued to climb. Felicity Wilcox also pointed this out in a recent article for Spotlight .

In conclusion, the report offers clear suggestions for change and evolution towards equal representation, including encouraging orchestras to program more diverse composers, both at the individual and corporate level. The report also lists 500 works of composition by women, some of which are included in the 2020-2021 seasons internationally.

“How can we do better? Spend time studying works beyond the pre-established canon, thinking about creating more projects where equality is a priority and opening up more spaces for discussion, like the work carried out by Donne under the direction of Gabriella di Laccio. They need to emerge, so that the subject is treated less and less as a novelty, and more like a normality “, declared the Brazilian conductor Andréa Botelho in the report.